Report: Aaron Hernandez Will Play On Thursday

Hernandez was limited in practice on Tuesday, but he is expected to go, assuming that he doesn’t suffer a setback in the coming days.

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Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez mentioned that he fully expects to carry the extra load for the Patriots offense in wake of teammate Rob Gronkowski‘s broken forearm.

“The way this program is, the way [coach] Bill [Belichick] makes us become the players that we become is we all have confidence and we all know we have to come to play every game regardless,” Hernandez said, via Field Yates of ESPNBoston.com. “And in the NFL, people go down and other people have to step up.”

Hernandez’s status for Thursday night’s game against the Jets is still unknown as he’s still being bothered by an ankle injury that has kept him out since Oct. 21st. Certainly, Hernandez has the ability to carry the load for the Patriots offense, but with an injured ankle, it’s still not known how much playing time he could even see.